Arrival: Sleep deprivation, heat and toilets.

Well, here I am. I made it! One completely uneventful plane ride later and here I am. Got completely paranoid about the immigration desk, convincing myself that there was some reason they would find to through me back on the plane and back home, though of course everything went fine, and Mayuko was waiting at arrivals to meet me (after having fallen asleep on the bus so she said). First Impression number 1: Osaka and Kobe are BIG. I really mean it. Everything is massive and has another layer of motorways or trains running over the top of it, all of which weave around the really tall buildings. The roads are massive to, like, 8 lanes sort of width right through Sannomiya (Kobe's central district). You don't even notice it though because everything is so massive it just seems in proportion. Didn't manage to get any pics this evening because I was with people, but I'll get some up soon. Now, first impression no. 2: There are Japanese people in Japan. Lots of them. I know this is pretty obvious, and I really don't know what I was expecting, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that about 99% of the people here are Japanese. Makes a bit of a change from the multiracial UK. Actually I'm going to admit to a slightly amusing/worrying thing that happened earlier. Just walking up to one of the (many) Sannomiya train/metro/subway stations (I predict this may be a source of major mishaps in the future), I saw some random Westerner and whispered excitedly to Mayuko "Hey look, a foreigner! Wow" To which laughed and pointed out "You know, that's what WE'RE supposed to say, not you!". Should I be worried about that?

Now, The Hotel. Lesson 1: Learn to speak Japanese properly so you don't misunderstand the receptionist's questions and don't answer "Oh no, I'm fine with Japanese food." when she asks if you want a receipt. First Impression no.3: Everything seems works exactly as it seems perfectly obvious for it to do so, so long as you have spent you're life in Japan. Case in point, my room key, which has a key (oddly enough) and a long bit of plastic with room numbers and stuff on it. Anyway, I get to my room after a quick unpack, find there is no power in my room. Obviously something's up here, and I'm quickly working out how I could potentially explain this to the receptionist in a way that might incline her to reply with something I might understand, when Mayuko nonchalantly mentions "check for a hole in the wall near the door." Turns out what you do is plug the plastic part of the key chain into the wall, which somehow turns all the power on. Given the complete lack of any sort of indication about what either the little slot in the wall or the plastic lump on my key chain were supposed to do, I can only wonder how long that would have taken me to figure that out on my own...

Now, the Japanese Bathroom. I feel this subject deserves more than a paragraph, but I actually haven't slept now for about 60 hours or so, so I'll be brief. The shower and the sink tap are the same thing, there is a weird little pull out string in the shower which Mayuko eventually explained (after I wondered for about 10 mins) is a drying line (which is actually a really good thing to have in a hotel bathroom come to think about it), and The Toilet. Compared with some photos I've seen, this one looks a little "primitive" for want of a better word, but it still took me ages to even work up the courage to go near the thing, never mind use it. It flushes automatically when you sit down (which I really don't understand) and then it's got a little control panel for the "squirter" under the seat, but unfortunately I can't actually think of any words to actually describe what this feels like to use. It also has a normal flush, but it actually took me ages to find this because it was actually in the place you'd actually expect it to be.

Oh, I forgot the aircon! I LOVE THIS THING! It's pretty hot here but this thing has a remote with about a billion settings on it to make it just how you like :-)

Went out for dinner later that evening with Mayuko, Ryota and a couple of their friends, where I discovered Japan's "interesting" prices when it comes to food and drink. Interesting as in set menu dinner (noodles, rice, tonkatsu (stuff battered in breadcrumbs), salad and dessert-some kind of sweet scrambled egg which I didn't eat after having had omelet twice on the plane) all for 1100 yen (about£8), and a ginger ale in a bar for 500 yen (about £4).